Never Saw You Coming
by Z's Athena
Summary: The more she thinks about Mikoshiba Seijuurou, the more she realizes that she doesn't mind turning her focus off the abs and pecs and biceps for once and directing it instead towards other things like his smile, his laugh... /SeiGou. One-shot./


**Author's Note:** I only recently got into Free! so call me late to the party or whatever, but THE WORLD NEEDS MORE SEIGOU FICS! This is my contribution to the frustratingly small pile of lovey-dovey stories involving my favorite hetero couple in the anime. xD I have a few other ideas waiting to be written, too, so do watch out for those. :D Also, I haven't written any stories outside of Naruto in years so it was challenging to write this, but I had fun nonetheless so I really hope you guys like this story. Happy reading! :)

 **Disclaimer:** Free! and all related characters do not belong to me. Cover art credit goes to Kanapy.

 **Warning(s):** Set after regionals but before Seijuurou graduates. Also, more dramatic than I intended. Lmao.

* * *

 **Never Saw You Coming**

 _By Z's Athena_

* * *

The crisp air around them teases the beginnings of spring as the members of the Iwatobi Swim Club make their way home for the day. Given that it's still too chilly to use the outdoor pool of their school, all five of them have no choice but to hold off training until the weather turns warmer.

A joint practice with Samezuka Academy has already been planned, but only among the members of the Iwatobi team—technically, the other team still doesn't know anything about any joint practices to be held. Nevertheless, Gou walks with a bounce in her step, already anticipating the affair and is all too eager for a chance to see her brother and, naturally, more muscles.

Contrary to her, however, Rei walks a few steps behind at a slower pace as he feels slightly reluctant about the ordeal, not wanting to impose on Samezuka so much (but also because the place brings back all-too-embarrassing memories of his first time there—not that he plans on telling _anyone_ that), and promptly expresses this concern to his teammates.

Nagisa, optimistic as ever, is quick to placate his worries and quips, "Don't worry about it, Rei-chan! If Gou-chan uses her sex appeal on Mikoshiba-buchou, it won't be any problem at all!"

"It's Kou! And I don't plan on using any 'sex appeal' at all! What are you even talking about? What does that have to do with _anything_?" she asks with an annoyed tone but the light pink dusting her cheeks shows that she's also slightly flustered.

"You're kidding, right?" Haruka deadpans from behind them, speaking up for the first time since they met up after school. Makoto is surprised that his childhood friend has chosen to participate in the conversation but opts to simply look back and forth between them.

Gou cocks her head to one side naively. "What do you mean by that, Haruka-senpai?"

"What do you mean 'what do you mean', Gou-chan? It's obvious, isn't it?" Nagisa retorts in a manner akin to saying 'um… _duh?_ '.

" _Obviously_ , it isn't. Otherwise, I wouldn't even be asking!"

Ever the peacemaker of the group, Makoto attempts to mollify their team manager. "Now, now, Kou-chan. I think what Haru and Nagisa are trying to say is that they're pretty sure that Mikoshiba-buchou wouldn't mind us training with them if _you_ were the one to ask him."

"Okay," she responds hesitantly. "But why?" She blinks up at them blankly, still not getting their point.

Rei cannot help facepalming at the denseness of this girl in front of him. "Gou-chan, Gou-chan, Gou-chan," Nagisa says to her while shaking his head condescendingly.

They—Nagisa, for the most part—then proceed to explain to her how Mikoshiba Seijuurou is absolutely smitten with her. And yet, even after they enumerate all the instances when his feelings were clear for everyone to see and then some, she just laughs it off and wonders out loud how they could think he was actually serious.

"But he said you were cute! And he's always calling your attention and talking to you whenever he sees you!" Nagisa defends.

"So?" she answers back. "He was probably just being friendly," she waves off his rationalization with a shrug. "Honestly, guys; the idea of Mikoshiba-buchou liking me is absurd! It's clear he's not actually serious about it, you know?"

The other three merely sigh and drop the topic, resigned to the fact that Gou won't be so easily convinced, but Nagisa continues to pester and even tease the redhead, to which she just fires back with more denial, until they go their separate ways.

* * *

The following day, Gou walks back to the gates of Samezuka Academy feeling disappointed. She had rushed over after school in hopes of seeing her brother or even the captain to talk about the joint training but arrived to find the pool area empty and devoid of any traces of having been used that day, only belatedly learning that training had been cancelled. Moreover, Rin wasn't even in his room and she certainly wasn't going to another guy's room by herself.

She rounds the corner with a heavy sigh and is in the middle of vowing to herself to return the next day when she bumps into a solid wall of muscle. Apologies are immediately shared before she looks up and sees a familiar pair of golden eyes staring back at her in disbelief.

"G-Gou-kun! What brings you here?" Seijuurou asks her at the same time she exclaims "Mikoshiba-buchou! I'm so glad to see you!"

Her words register in the Mikoshiba's mind and he takes a step back in shock. "Y-you are?"

Gou nods innocently, missing the way his cheeks redden with her affirmation. "I was just at the pool to talk to you about something but I didn't know that training was cancelled. I'm so lucky that we bumped into each other like this!"

Seijuurou straightens up and calms down at her explanation, feeling slightly disappointed that he misunderstood but nonetheless smiles at her pleasantly. "Oh, what is it that you wanted to talk about, then?"

"How would you feel about another joint practice between Samezuka and Iwatobi?"

"A joint practice, you say? I think that's a great idea! Let's do it!" The memory of the first time she approached him with the same request flashes briefly in her mind and she laughs inwardly at the similarities between his replies from then and now, sans the intimidating aura he initially exuded at that time.

"Wonderful! Ah, we wouldn't be imposing on you or anything, would we? The other members and I feel that we might be asking too much from you guys," she trails off nervously, but he quickly dismisses her worry with a wave of his hand.

"You won't be any trouble at all! It's as beneficial for us to be training with talented swimmers like Nanase, after all." _That, and I get to see you…_

Gou is instantly appeased and starts rambling how that's good to hear "because Nagisa-kun and the others are under the impression that you'd easily agree if I asked you only because they have this funny idea that you have feelings for me." He flinches at how he was so easily found out but she doesn't notice at all as she goes on, "—But that's totally impossible, right?" and starts giggling only to stop when she realizes that Seijuurou is merely standing there with his head down.

"Um… Mikoshiba-buchou?"

A somber look flickers upon his face briefly before his usual dorky character surfaces as he scratches the back of his neck in a nervous gesture. "Eh? What's so funny about that, Gou-kun? It's true! I really _do_ like you!" he confesses to her for the first time, his expression turning too bright and too forced.

Gou's eyes widen in mild shock before giggling again, albeit uneasily this time. "Eh? No way. You're kidding, right, Mikoshiba-buchou?" However, all humor leaves her when she observes the way he stares at her with a solemn gaze, the corners of his lips lowering into a sad smile.

She has never seen this side of the captain before— with his swim team, Seijuurou is all business, the determination in his eyes when in captain mode only ever gaining a livelier spark when he's encouraging his teammates on or when his team wins, and this she actually finds rather admirable; with her, on the other hand, Seijuurou is all 'Gou-kun this' or 'Gou-kun that' and waving around as he calls out her name, embarrassed though as she gets, that she had found it hard to actually take the guy seriously. But _this_ Seijuurou, with the distant, almost sad look in his eyes, makes her wonder what more of the Samezuka team captain she was not aware of.

Gou merely stares back at him, waiting for further explanation. Taking the hint, Seijuurou repeats himself, firmer this time, but also more resigned.

"I like you, Gou."

His confession renders her speechless and baffled at the same time, but a part of her also realizes that he's just called her 'Gou'.

In her confused state of mind, she involuntarily allows her eyes to rake over his form: the way the breeze plays with the tendrils of his fiery red hair, the sharp angles of his handsome face, how his broad shoulders seem so strong and reliable, his hands curled into tight fists at his sides. _Surely, there is more to this guy than his muscles_ , a voice in the back of her mind marvels.

"But... I know you don't really see me that way so it's fine. I just wanted to let you know," he goes on when she continues to remain silent. There is a defeated look that she can clearly see in his eyes; like he'd already given up before the race even began—which is odd coming from a competitive swimmer like him, but that's what it certainly looks like to her.

Finally, he gives her a smile that doesn't quite reach his ears and starts to walk away without another word.

"M-Mikoshiba-buchou, wait!" she calls out in panic. He hesitantly turns to look at her, eyes twinkling briefly with—was it _hope_?—before settling into a mask of wariness and genuine curiosity. She cringes inwardly at his reaction, so different from the outgoing and loud Mikoshiba she was used to, and concludes that she doesn't like this version of him one bit.

"I'm sorry I misunderstood you before," she admits with her gaze averted somewhere off to the side, not quite having the nerve to even look him in the eye.

He steps closer to her and ruffles her hair lightheartedly, still with that unnatural smile of his, telling her again that it's okay and that he understands that his goofy personality is to blame, "—but I just can't help myself when you're around, Gou."

The manner in which he says this unnerves her, but not in the frustrating way that it used to when he'd throw compliments at her so lightly; now it's because she realizes that he actually means what he's saying, and the mere thought of this has her blushing to the roots of her hair.

He waits for her to say something, _anything_ , but she doesn't know how to respond to that—not when she's never seen him this serious about her before; not when she's only now begun to consider him as a potential love interest—so he sighs dejectedly, drops his arm to his side, and moves to leave once more.

If Gou were to be completely honest with herself, she's never thought about guys that way, blinded as she's always been with their muscles and not having it within her to regard them as anything more than—to put it frankly—eye candy, her brother and the Iwatobi team being the only exceptions to this, of course.

But the more she thinks about Mikoshiba Seijuurou, the more she realizes that it is entirely within the realm of possibility for her to care about a guy that isn't her brother or a close friend; that she doesn't mind turning her focus off the abs and pecs and biceps for once and directing it instead towards other things like his smile, his laugh, his kindness, his passion for something he loves… and then suddenly it hits her like a speeding truck that, indeed, she wouldn't mind seeing a guy in that light—but only if that guy was the same guy currently turning away from her.

She finally notices that he is about to leave and this is enough to snap her out of her musings. She grabs his jacket on impulse, halting him mid-turn and, making up her mind, gives him a reply but with a shaky voice, still too shy to make proper eye contact.

"I-I don't know you that well, to be quite honest. All I know is that you're my brother's swim team captain and that even though you're serious when it comes to swimming, you're actually really nice. So…"

She pauses, takes a deep breath to muster up courage, and then lifts her head to look him in the eye this time, noting his wide-eyed stare and wondering momentarily if her face might be as red as she thinks it is because she's never really done this before: this whole confession thing. "I don't think I would mind—getting to know you, I mean."

She fidgets as she waits for him to speak. Then, slowly, the corners of his mouth lift into that dazzling smile she's always been so accustomed to and it causes a warm, fuzzy feeling to bubble up in her chest at seeing him revert to his old cheerful self.

"Then, does that mean...? Will you go out with me Gou-kun?" he asks in a hopeful tone as he reaches out to hold both of her hands in his, much like when they had first met, and he looks so unbelievably adorable— _Was he always like this?,_ she wonders for a moment—that she couldn't help sending him a warm smile of her own.

"Yes," she replies confidently, knowing fully this time that he means it and she means it, too. "And please don't use 'Gou' and '-kun' together," she jokingly adds as an afterthought upon realizing that the honorific is back as well. A charming chuckle which starts from deep within his chest and that which causes butterflies to flutter about in her stomach is his simple reply to her, not quite agreeing to her request, but Gou finds that she doesn't really mind.


End file.
